A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky.
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Thursday, July 07, 2016

Judge has misgivings about her charges against Ga. publisher and his lawyer; prosecutor drops them

"Three felony charges brought against the publisher of a local weekly newspaper and his
attorney that were brought based on their efforts to see public
documents" have been dismissed on motion of the prosecutor, reports Rhonda Cook of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The charges were brought by Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver when "she learned of the subpoenas for records from her office’s operating account and from another jurist," Cook reports. "She said in a letter attached to the dismissal that she had had second thoughts about pursing a case." Yesterday, the Georgia Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists filed a complaint against her. Weaver wrote, "I in no way want to diminish or infringe upon the First Amendment Rights we have."

Fannin Focus Publisher Mark Thomason and his attorney were "indicted, arrested and jailed overnight on June 24," Cook notes. "Thomason was charged with
making a false statement in a request made under the Georgia Open
Records Act for copies of checks drawn on the office accounts of two
local judges that may have been 'cashed illegally.' Thomason and Stookey were charged with identify fraud and attempted
identity fraud because the attorney secured subpoenas for bank records
they wanted to present as evidence in a pending court matter over
whether the two had to pay the legal fees of a court stenographer who
had sued the newspaper man for defamation."

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This blog generally follows traditional journalistic standards. It's not about opinions, though you may read one here occasionally. It's about facts that we think will be useful to rural journalists, non-rural journalists who do rural stories, and others interested in rural issues. We don't try to be provocative, so we don't generate as many comments as most blogs with the level of traffic we have, but we certainly invite comments -- and contributions, to al.cross@uky.edu. Feel free to republish blog items, with credit to us and the original source.